


A Dark Christmas

by EsriteIatha



Series: Does The Wolf Apologize? [3]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Blood and Gore, Christmas Eve, Gen, Horror, Monster of the Week, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21833122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsriteIatha/pseuds/EsriteIatha
Summary: Tim didn't see his face, but there was sadness in Tony's voice when he answered."You know that it's not a possibility."Oh, he knew. The last month had thought him so much. One of those things was the fact that the word was more black than white. Maybe... very gray. His friends... those horrible things that happened last night. Some of those things were done by his friends. Maybe they didn't have a choice, but they had still done it. It was something he had to think about.Later.***The team investigates strange disappearings in a haunted cabin in Colorado. During the night Tim has to face the fact that Christmas isn't always jolly and his friends aren't angels either.Part Three of my Does The Wolf Apologize? series. You probably need to read the first part to understand this one though.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo & Caitlin Todd, Anthony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo & Timothy McGee, Jethro Gibbs & Caitlin Todd, Jethro Gibbs & Timothy McGee, Timothy McGee & Caitlin Todd
Series: Does The Wolf Apologize? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/878640
Kudos: 21





	A Dark Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, Everyone! 
> 
> So, I'm back! You know when I started writing this one it was exactly one year ago. I planned it to be a short Christmas special of my series, then... I happened. It took a whole year to write it and it's not that short... But still. Here it is. And I want you to know that I didn't give up on this storyline. This is my baby! My life just kinda busy for the research and it takes time. But I don't intend to give up any time soon! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one! And you know kudos and comments, even ideas help a lot too! 
> 
> Goodbye and I wish you a very Merry Christmas! 
> 
> Esrite

_12/24/1993_

_7:00 PM_

_Colorado_

_White River National Forest_

"Come on, Heather! Put that damn book down! It's Christmas!"

The blond girl looked up from the thin book she had been studying intensely just a few seconds before. She waved the thing at the grinning boy.

"This is the map, idiot!" she huffed.

The boy lunged forward and snatched the little book out of her hands. Heather yelped as she was almost yanked out of balance too. She jumped off the log she had been sitting on and tried to wrestle the boy for the map.

"Come on, Jace! Don't be an idiot!" she hissed.

"Don't be such a worrywart!" Jace grinned and held the map high, so Heather couldn't reach it. "we don't even need it!"

"You two are annoying."

The fighting pair froze and turned towards the third member of their group. The dark-haired boy was leaning against a tree a few feet away from them, watching the two with a bored expression. Jace narrowed his green eyes at him. He dropped the map, which was snatched up immediately by Heather, then he leveled his finger threateningly at the other boy.

"You...!"

"Jace! Trevin! That's enough!"

Jace jumped a little, but Trevin just moved his gaze lazily towards the third boy. The tall young adult was sitting on a duffel bag, his long arm gently wrapped around a beautiful girl. He took his time as he looked deep into the other two boys' eyes. Jace averted his gaze quickly and even Trevin looked uncomfortable after a while.

"Stop fighting. It's Christmas." The third boy spoke.

"Sorry, Adam!" Jace mumbled as he fidgeted with the sleeve of his coat.

The girl at Adam's side hummed contentedly and snuggled closer to him.

"We don't need that map." She purred. "We have walked these woods so many times. So many times!"

She smiled as her gaze found that piece of paper that was taped to one of the trees around them. One of her companions' faded smile was looking back at her from under the word: _Missing_.

ψ

_12/24/2002_

_7:00 AM_

_Colorado_

_White River National Forest_

_Two miles from the Ever Dream Cottage_

Tim jolted awake when the car stopped with a sudden jerk. Morpheus, now in the form of a pug, stirred on his lap. The agent blinked at the sight on the other side of the car window. Colorado was truly beautiful during the winter. However, it was not awe that appeared on Tim's face as he glanced at the snow. It was a frown. After his last encounter with snow, he was reluctant to ever touch the cold stuff again. Not that he had much choice. He couldn't stay in the vehicle forever. Or even for another minute.

"Two miles!" Gibbs announced as he opened the door. Cold air entered through the gap and Tim shivered.

"A hike uphill! Fantastic!" Kate groaned as she too opened another door.

Tony almost skipped out of the vehicle. Ever since their new-found bond with Gibbs has been discovered/restored, Gibbs and Tony were more receptive to each other's emotions. Hiking made Gibbs happy, so it made Tony happy too.

They left the car in a guarded parking lot just the edge of the forest. With their gear divided between them, they started their tiresome journey uphill.

"I can't believe I'm spending Christmas Eve like this!" Kate grumbled.

"It's a job, Agent Todd!" Gibbs scolded the zombie without even glancing at her. He was at the front, searching for the best path towards their goal.

"In Colorado," Tim noted grumpily. Despite his warm boots, the cold was already seeping in. His body shivered as he subconsciously threw himself back into another situation. Another hike in the merciless snow.

"Don't be spoilsports, guys! This is supposed to be _magical_!" Tony's way too cheerful voice reached them from the back.

Tim sighed. He was blaming Ellis, he decided. When Tristan's mate had come to them to help and dropped off Morpheus, he had mentioned that every year someone disappeared from the Ever Dream Cottage around Christmas. Last year the disappearing person had been a marine. Conveniently. According to the local lore, these woods around them were haunted. Of course, Gibbs had demanded the case for themselves. So, here they were, spending their vacation in a potentially very dangerous cabin in the woods.

Tim was really not happy with Ellis right now.

And this hike in the snow? Well, it was bringing up very dark memories of another hike in the snow.

After that their complaints had been shot down, they walked in silence. After a while, Tim noticed that Morpheus was missing. The young púca was probably playing another prank on them. Púcas were shapeshifting creatures too, but unlike the shifters, they could shift into anything, truly anything, except a human. They were playful little creatures, who loved pranking anyone or anything. For some reason, Ellis had thought that their team was the ideal guardian for this little shapeshifting creature.

"You need him, and he needs you!" he had said with a grin and a glint in his eyes. "Believe me, you'll thank me later!"

Well, Tony doesn't plan to thank him. The shifter and the little púca didn't get along. At all! The shifter hated the small creature passionately, while Morpheus loved playing with him. Or annoy him.

"It's a shifter thing," Abby had stated.

"We are here!" Gibbs said the magic words and ended Tim's musings. He looked up to a see a once beautiful, now run-down looking cabin standing in front of them. The yellow police tape that surrounded it was unnerving.

"DiNozzo?"

At the vampire's prompting, the shifter stepped forward, held his head high and sniffed the air.

"Nothing," Tony shook his head. "Just wild animals and that rotten thing on top of McGee's backpack."

So, they didn't lose Morpheus after all.

Tim felt a little push, then a little creature fell into the snow next to him. It looked like a black sprite. It hobbled through the snow, towards the cabin.

"Can we leave him here? Accidentally of course!" Tony asked hopefully.

"Jealous?" Gibbs asked back with a grin.

Tony snorted at the question, but he was ignored. The vampire tore off the yellow tape and led them inside carefully.

The cabin had a wraparound porch, some of it was screened. There were four entry points, two at the front, one at the back, and one through the screened porch. One of the front doors opened into the main bedroom, the other into the family room. The other two doors opened into the kitchen area. The main level had one bathroom with a shower and a toilette and a separate room with a lone toilette. Wooden stairs led upstairs, where they found two bedrooms and another bathroom. It was decided that Tony and Tim would share one of the upper-level bedrooms, while Kate would have the other one. Of course, Gibbs would have the one on the main floor. Not that he sleeps... or that any one of them would have the time to sleep, but old habits and sentiments.

Tony and Gibbs searched the cabin and the proximity of it for a smell or a trace, while Kate and Tim started cleaning up the cleared rooms. Everything was a mess. It kind of reminded Tim of the state of Victoria's house at the time of his final visit there. He shuddered at the thought.

"Victoria?" Kate asked softly. He turned around and stared into her dark, kind eyes.

"Yeah," he whispered.

Kate nodded and looked down at the floor... At least there were no dark spots there.

"Me too," she said.

Silence fell upon them again.

The other pair got back to them an hour later.

"Nothing," Gibbs huffed.

"It doesn't mean anything," Tony spoke as he kicked off his boots. He preferred moving around barefoot. Another shifter thing. "If this is an annual thing than there is a good chance that we wouldn't sense anything."

"What now?" Tim asked.

"We prepare for Christmas. We are the bait, after all!"

Gibbs sounded way too cheerful in Tim's opinion.

They spent the day preparing. When they finished the cleaning, they started decorating. The boys even bullied a tree into the house. Of course, it was not just games and fun. They painted, carved sigils on almost every surface, even most of the Christmas decorations were the result of witchcraft. Though, they made sure that their traps were very well hidden. After all, they wanted to catch the attacker, not chase it away.

In the end, Tim fell asleep while watching the _It's a wonderful life_ and listening to Tony's complaining of the awful smell that only he could sense in the downstairs bathroom.

ψ

_12/24/2002_

_8:00 PM_

_Colorado_

_White River National Forest_

_Ever Dream Cottage_

Gibbs walked around the cabin silently. Darkness had fallen outside and with it came the heavy silence. The only sound was the soft snores of McGee, who was sleeping on the couch in the family room. They let him sleep for now. They were facing a very long night. 

The lights were off. None of them needed it. Not him, not the other supernatural creature awake in the room, nor the things lurking outside in the woods.

"You feel them?"

Gibbs turned towards the source of the voice. Tony sat on the window sill, one leg hanging off. The shifter kept his gaze on the woods on the other side of the window. His fingers were playing with the two suppressors on his wrist. Gibbs glanced at the things. One of them was the original one, an expensive-looking watch, while the other one was a black bracelet. Gibbs hated them both, but he had learned to tolerate their existence. That was the only way to keep the shifter close.

"You smell them?" he asked back.

Long fingers tugged on the suppressors, but still not taking them off.

"Not yet," Tony spoke. "But I feel something."

The shifter shivered visibly. Strange. He was never cold. His own core temperature was way too high for that.

"You alright?" Gibbs had to ask.

Tony leaned forward, towards the window. Red and gold flashed in his eyes despite the suppressors.

"They are hunting."

It was barely a whisper, but it brought clarity. Tony was a hunter himself. Being the bait didn't sit well with his instincts, naturally.

"You should take them off." Gibbs nodded at the suppressors.

"Not yet." Tony shook his head. Still stubborn.

"Guys!" the urgency in Kate's whisper ended the conversation. "You have to see this!"

After stepping to the couch, Gibbs reached down and shook McGee awake. He hushed at his protest and dragged the agent after the shifter and the zombie. They entered the screened porch. Gibbs fought down the uneasy feeling of leaving the relative safety of the wooden walls. A sound reached the vampire's sensitive ears. Someone was singing outside. The song was unfamiliar, but it sounded like a ...

"Warning," Tony whispered.

"Look!" Kate pointed. Outside, between the trees, something was moving. It was white, just like the snow around them. The thing left the cover of the trees and Tim gasped behind Gibbs.

"Holy Hell! What is this?"

The thing's head was the skull of a horse. The rest of it was covered in white sheets. The creature was singing almost angelically.

"Mari Lwyd," There was a smile in Kate's voice. "The Christmas Zombie Horse."

"Christmas Zombie Horse?" Tim parroted the words. His voice was way too high.

"Well," Tony grinned and leaned against the wall. "It's a good guy."

"It's a zombie horse!" Tim protested.

"Hey!" Kate hissed.

"Mari Lwyd is not a killer. They appear where the danger lies and warn the innocent." Tony ended the argument.

"Good to know," Tim muttered darkly.

"This is a warning," Gibbs spoke finally. He kept his gaze on the grotesque figure. Its trace shimmered with urgency and worry. "It's trying to save us by scaring us away."

"But for a human, this is scary enough to never wanting to leave the cabin again. Believe me, I am one!" Tim protested.

"Every year, whatever happened, happened in the cabin," Kate stated.

"Good intentions..." Tony shook his head.

The zombie horse suddenly disappeared. Silence settled upon them again.

"Is it gone?" Tim tried hopefully. Almost in unison, they leaned forward. Gibbs saw the flare of trace before it happened, but seemingly he was the only one. The Mari Lwyd appeared mere inches away from the window and restarted its song. The three junior agents jumped or fell backward. The song was loud enough that the shifter's hands flew to his ears.

Gibbs stayed where he had been. He stared into the empty sockets of the skull. Only darkness looked back at him.

"We are not leaving." He spoke.

The song picked up its speed and became even louder.

"I said, we are not leaving!" Gibbs repeated himself, he too louder.

The song suddenly stopped. For a few seconds, the zombie horse and the vampire stared at each other. Then the skull's jaw moved. A high-pitched scream filled the air. It lasted a moment, then the Mari Lwyd was gone.

"You just had to piss it off, right?" Kate huffed.

"Shut up!" Tony snapped. The harshness of his voice was surprising to the team. Gibbs felt a warning pressure on his sternum, and he turned towards the shifter. Tony stood tall, eyes glowing with red and gold. His nostrils moved visibly with every heavy breath he took.

"Someone is..."

There was a furious knock on the front door, on the other side of the cabin.

"Let us in! Please! Let us in!"

Gibbs moved, gliding through the building, fast as lightning. He stopped at the window next to the front door and he peeked out. There were five teenagers crowding on their porch. Three boys, two girls. One of the girls, a tiny, blond one was the source of the urgent banging. Gibbs checked for trace, but there was nothing. However, the last month had taught him to be more cautious, even with children.

Tony stepped next to him.

"Shit!" the shifter concluded.

"Are they humans?"

"Think so..." the shifter narrowed his eyes at the children outside. His fingers were tapping on his suppressor and he bit down on his lip.

"Well, take them off!" Gibbs hissed.

"Not yet!"

"Well?" Kate snapped at them. She was standing next to the door, her hand hovered above the handle. Tim was standing in the middle of the family room, eyes moving between the three of them nervously. His fingers were resting on the gun that was still in its holster at his hips.

Gibbs glanced back at the teenagers. There was fear on their faces. It looked like true fear. He gave in with a nod towards Kate. The zombie turned the key and pulled the door open. The five teenagers scrambled inside, and the heavy wooden barrier was in its place again.

"Thank you! Thank you!" the blond girl repeated her gratitude like a mantra.

Gibbs just hoped that he wasn't making another grave mistake.

ψ

They had gathered in the family room after turning the lights on. Kate led the conversation with the teenagers, gently prompting information out of them and taking care of their injuries. Tim sat a bit away from them, at the dining table, his laptop in front of him. He was soundlessly typing something as the teenagers told their story. Gibbs stood by the window, arms crossed in front of his chest, intense eyes watching the scene in front of him like a hawk.

Tony stepped into the kitchen after promising the shaken group tea. His body was on autopilot as he put the ingredients together, while his mind was in overdrive. He was angry and frustrated. This distraction in the form of the teenagers was the last thing they needed. They didn't know what kind of danger they were facing, only, well, that they were facing it. He was wearing suppressors for a reason and he really didn't take it well when his hands were forced. They needed a wild card as the last resort, damn it!

He listened in on the conversation in the family room, with the aid of his sharp hearing. Heather, Amelia, Adam, Trevin, and Jace. Five teenagers who planned to spend Christmas together, away from their annoying families. They rented a cabin not far from there. In the middle of the partying, they had been attacked. Tony glanced at Heather, the blond girl. She had several cuts on her face and arms. The very same cuts covered Jace's hands, fingers too. Tony had smelled real blood on them before the strong scent of the antiseptic gel filled the room. He grimaced. So, that added up.

According to Adam, the oldest of the group, something, that by the sound of it had been the Mari Lwyd, chased them through the woods. They had leaves in their hair and clothes, they had the scent of pine trees and dirt on them. Their clothes were torn, ripped, covered in slush and mud. Amelia was limping slightly, she had fallen over a broken branch.

Tony poured the hot water into mugs, ignoring the tsking of his inner Ducky, and after carelessly throwing several types of teabags onto a tray, he carried the whole thing into the family room. He placed it down onto the coffee table and he stepped out of the way of the teenagers' grabby hands. His nose warned him that Tim was frustrated so, he walked to his human. He raised his left eyebrow when Tim looked up at him. The junior agent pointed at the right lower corner of his laptop's screen.

_No internet connection._

Tony frowned. As far as he knew, they had their own fancy satellite for that with which Tim had spent the almost whole afternoon. He glanced up at Gibbs who mirrored his own frown. Tony's inner hunter was raging. His fingers slipped to the clasp of his suppressors. 

Fine! 

He started walking towards the kitchen when he noticed something. Jace was staring out of the window on their left (or right, depending on where you sat). The teenager's green eyes widened, and he raised his shaking hand, pointing outside.

"It's back!"

Tony and the others spun around and saw the Mari Lwyd staring back at them. The skull's jaw opened, and that horrible scream filled the air again. Tony's hands flew to his ears. His too sharp hearing did not approve! After that, lots of things happened at the same time. The lights turned blindingly bright, then the bulbs shattered above them, glass showering down. This combination took away two of Tony's senses. His sight and his hearing. Several screams joined into the chaos. Alarm reached him through his bond with Gibbs and he didn't know how, because his senses were practically useless at this point, but he still registered as the vampire was flung out of the building through the conveniently opening and closing door.

Something big slammed against the shifter, pushing him off his feet. He rolled as soon as he reached the floor away from where he supposed his attacker was.

"Kate! Get them upstairs!" he ordered.

"But," her protest came from somewhere of his right. He blindly unclasped one of his suppressors. He felt his own presence flair up. He also knew that she understood.

"Upstairs! Now! Come on, Amelia! Run!" he heard. There was the thunder of feet as the others tried to escape from their mysterious attacker.

He was fumbling with his other suppressor when something hit his right leg. Sharp, tiny teeth sank into his ankle through his jeans. He hissed and kicked with his leg. He saw something black flying through the air and it hit the floor with a thud and a snarl. Tony staggered to his feet, keeping his narrowed eyes on the spot where he had last seen the little fucker. His sight was returning slowly, thanks, Gaia. He almost ended up back on the floor when he tried to put weight on his right leg. His traitorous limb didn't support him. There was a strange numbness spreading through it. He unclasped his second suppressor and soon as the binding barrier around him disappeared, he tried to shift. The numbness turned into a burning pain and he staggered against the wall. His eyes sharpened, just like his hearing and sense of smell. His tails manifested, swirling around him with an agitated rhythm. His nails grew and turned into claws, but that was it. He noted with a sinking feeling that he couldn't fully shift.

The smell of something rotting filled his nostrils and that was his only warning. The creature was back with its damned teeth. He slashed with his claws, feeling satisfaction as they sank into the little body. The creature dropped to the ground with a wail. However, Tony's victory was short. It was not the only creature. With loud screeching sounds that were probably battle cries, several creatures jumped at him from the shadows, attacking, clawing, biting. Tony fell to the ground while he tried to swat them away. He growled at them, but it was not enough to scare them away. His fingers wrapped around one of the creature's neck and he broke it with a hard squeeze. Then he rolled, kicked, clawed, desperately trying to peel them off himself. The smell of his own blood was so strong that it was suffocating.

He rolled again and his back slammed against something hard. Through the growing haze in his mind, he registered that it was a door. If he could shift fully, the energy of the transformation could free him. He could escape. He tried to will his body to do what he needed, but nothing happened. He sank down onto the ground. The haze was growing and growing. It took away his will, his motivation, his surviving instinct. He couldn't even feel the bites of the creatures anymore. Like that, it wasn't that bad.

In this dream-like state, he didn't fully register the enthusiastic bark. He blinked, his head turning subconsciously towards the new sound. Even this strange haze couldn't quench his incredulity as he watched as a pug raced towards them with an awkward trot. It caught the little evil creatures' attention too. The next thing even more so. The pug's body shimmered during the next leap. Suddenly it was not a cute little animal, but a huge bear thundering towards them. The creatures jumped off Tony with high-pitched screams. Tony tried to roll and push himself off the ground, but his muscles just didn't do their thing.

The door nearly hit him as it was wrenched open. His body was lifted off the ground and he was thrown. He hit the hard floor with a groan. The door shut closed. The only sound he could hear over his own thundering heart was an awkward wheezing sound. He turned his head and glanced at the black pug sitting way too happily next to him.

"Pug ex machina?" he snorted.

The pug cocked its head to the side.

Tony closed his eyes and huffed.

"Do not think that you can bully me into liking you or something!" he warned. "I still hate you!"

He was pretty sure that the pug was laughing at him.

ψ

Kate slammed the door close. Tim and Trevin barricaded it with the lone desk of the room. She glanced at Tim's face as the human realized something she had already noticed. There were only four of them in the room. Kate didn't know, hadn't seen what happened to Gibbs, but she remembered clearly what happened to their shifter. She had seen the large, dark form of a feline on the top of Tony. She had sensed the flair of the shifter's trace, but there had been no proper shifting. She didn't know why. She didn't really want to know why. The fate of Heather, Adam, and Jace remained a frightening mystery.

She brought herself back to their predicament. She looked past her teammate. The walls were clear. Their traps didn't activate. Why? They were Abby's spells They should have worked. Kate felt a gentle pressure on her sternum. A sudden and unpleasant feeling took over her. Like an animal trapped in a cage with an apex predator. She turned and looked, really looked at the remaining two teenagers. Trevin had moved closer to the girl. He kept glancing at the window, but his face was unreadable. But he didn't look scared. And the strangely quiet girl, Amelia. She had bugged Kate from the very beginning. It was like there was no real emotion behind the beautiful face. Her beauty, the other thing. She looked perfect. Even the prettiest people had faults here and there, but Amelia was perfect. Like a sculpture. Nothing is this perfect, except a mask that's hiding something.

Kate finally understood that the girl had dropped the act. Amelia looked deep into Kate's eyes, amusement forming as she noticed the realization taking place.

They had made a huge mistake.

Kate didn't have the supernatural speed of the vampires, but she too could move fast if needed. She aimed her weapon at the girl.

"What are you?" she hissed.

"Kate?" Tim stammered her name. He was still young and inexperienced. He would catch up. Kate kept her gaze on the enemy.

Amelia smiled.

ψ

The brutal force that ripped him out of the house threw him at least ten feet away from the cabin. He landed in the snow with a groan, but he immediately turned and jumped (more or less) to his feet. He lunged forward and used his supernatural speed to reach the now closed door. However, the same power stopped him, and he was pushed back again even more viciously. He hissed in his growing anger. The others were still in there, damn it! He tried again, but this time he was more cautious. He stood at a human pace, keeping his attention on his surroundings. He took a step and another. His steps faltered as a sudden and strange numbness spread through his right leg, then his whole body. It was accompanied by that strange, glow like feeling that was characteristic of his bond with his shifter. The sensation wasn't his. He hissed angrily.

"You shouldn't go back there."

Gibbs turned towards the source of the voice. Adam was walking towards him slowly. He was lazily kicking up the snow.

"That cabin is dangerous." The boy smiled.

Gibbs straightened his posture. Right before his banishment from the cabin, he had seen the flair of a trace. Could it have been Adam? At that moment, there was no trace.

"Who are you?" Gibbs asked.

The boy cocked his head to the side. He looked confused. Almost.

"Adam."

Trace slipped into the boy's voice. It made the hair on the back of Gibbs's neck stand. The trace was so dark.

"What are you?"

Adam looked at the cabin. His intelligent eyes had a faraway look in them.

"I hate Christmas."

Adam reached up and pulled at the skin on his own face. With a sickening tearing sound, the skin gave, and he peeled it off. Something black and horrible remained. Adam kept tearing at his own flesh and soon Christmas' darkest figure stood between the cabin and Gibbs.

"This is a joke," Gibbs muttered. "Krampus?"

The monster straightened its posture as much as it could, but still, it towered over the vampire.

"Someone's been really naughty!" Adam's voice came out of the thing.

Gibbs allowed his own eyes to change, sharpen. His own nails turned into small, almost claws. Every spell and potion they had prepared was inside the house. Just like his Blessed Knife. Brute vampire strength was Gibbs' only weapon. He had to hope it would be enough. Sadly, he lacked any knowledge of Christmas Monsters. He showed his teeth threateningly at the monster, as it pulled a long, heavy chain out of nowhere. Literally from the thin air. Long, black claws wrapped around it. Making matters worse, the strange numbness was getting stronger and stronger every second that passed. His instincts screamed at him to get back to the cabin and save the others. To get back to his Clan members. He pushed his anger and frustration through the bond towards the mind of his shifter.

The next second, the Krampus attacked. The heavy chain flew through the hair, and despite Gibbs' fast reflexes, it still hit him in the middle of his chest. He staggered backward with a grunt. His sharp hearing registered the chains flying through the air again. He jumped backward, out of the way. The next moment the chains hit the snow with a brutal force where he had just been. The white flakes showered onto the vampire as he dashed forward and grabbed the cold metal. He and Krampus started the world's most dangerous tug of war. Gibbs gritted his teeth as his feet kept slipping in the snow. The thing that had been Adam chuckled ominously as its body tensed with the next planned movement.

The next moment surprised both of them. One of the cabin's upper floor's window broke to million pieces and something fell out of it. The twin sounds of pain were the only sign that thing was actually two living things.

Gibbs used this distraction and yanked on the chains. It slipped out of Krampus' claws. The vampire used it for a counterattack and swung it brutally. He didn't wait out the effect of his hit. He started running towards the cabin and the rolling dark tangle in front of it. He almost reached them, when something heavy and big slammed against his back and pushed him to the ground. There was a crack somewhere in his chest. He thanked the supernatural that he didn't really need to breathe. That would be painful now. Scratch that, it hurt like hell like that too.

Shots broke through the fight. The thing on top of Gibbs howled and was gone the next second. Slim fingers grabbed Gibbs' jacket and he was yanked away. He rolled with the movement. He turned and came face to face with Kate's bloody features.

"We have to go!" Kate shouted at him. Her eyes were wild, her pupils dilatated by the stress of the situation.

"The others!" Gibbs snapped. He pulled his limbs under himself and prepared to lunge. But before he could start his planned course of action, that damned power surge was back, and he collided against a tree.

"What do you think, Dear Gryla? Are you up for a hunt?"

Gibbs moved to stand. Kate arrived next to him in a run. She grabbed his arm and pulled it again. He kept his eyes on Krampus and the other creature next to him. It looked like a deformed woman dressed in rugs. She raised both of her arms and a series of snapping noises filled the air. Several trees around the cabin moved. The branches formed limbs, the trunks became bodies.

"Shit!" Gibbs snapped. He and Kate started running. Into the woods.

The trees screamed.

ψ

Tim gaped at the broken window, through which Kate and the monster woman had fallen. Kate had called it Gryla. According to his book, she was a Chrismas Monster. Tim swallowed nervously and aimed his shaking gun at Trevin. The teenager wore a bored expression as he fiddled with his coat. The cloth aged in front of the human's eyes. It turned black, old and worn. It only took a blink from Tim and the next moment there was a creature in front of him, not a young man. Under the ragged clothes stood something that was bone, straw, and thorn. Thin, white hair and long, unkempt beard hang off a skull with the dead, black eyes. A scarecrow of horror.

"Considering that you are a human," a deep voice boomed. Tim took a surprised step back.

"I feel the need to introduce myself. "the voice continued. "You may know me as Hans Trapp."

Another Christmas Monster, Tim's mind supplied unhelpfully. He was familiar with the legend of Hans Trapp but other than Santa coming to the rescue, he didn't know about anything else that could help him out. The agent leveled his gun at the creature.

"Stay back!" he ordered with as much bravado as he could. The skull opened its jaw to form an ugly smile. Tim backed away against the heavy desk that he and apparently Hans Trapp had put there to use as a barricade. However, it had become the thing that trapped him there with the monster.

He pulled the trigger.

ψ

Tony lay on his back on the cold tiles and watched the tiny hands that were trying to break through the lone window of the bathroom. There were dozens of them.

He couldn't care less.

Morpheus in the form of a pug kept barking at him. The púca's amusement had disappeared. The barks were filled with urgency and warning. _Danger is coming! The danger is here! Not safe! Get up!_ Tony was sure that the pug was calling him names too. Morpheus kept looking not just at the window, but at the door too. The shifter sensed what the púca was trying to warn him about. There was something on the other side of the door too. Something different was also stalking them. By the smell of it, it was a feline. It was pacing up and down on the other side of the door. The rhythmically changing intensity of the smell gave it away.

Tony sighed. The numbness had spread through his whole body. It prevented him from shifting fully, to think clearly or feel anything else than this strange calm numbness. Logically he knew that it was bad, but after the horrors of the last month, it was liberating.

Morpheus jumped forward and bit into his left leg with an angry growl. Tony didn't feel it, so, he didn't care about it. The púca turned towards him and barked furiously. The creature's body shimmered and the next moment it was a sprite that towered over Tony's head. It slashed at his face with its tiny nails. Well, it stung a little. He hissed at it disapprovingly. It seemed to encourage the little creature and it repeated the atrocity again. It felt like a heroic effort, but Tony managed to lift his hand and tried to push it away. He received a bit into his wrist.

"You..." Tony growled angrily. The sprite jumped back a bit and gave him a wide grin full of sharp teeth.

Tony turned on his stomach and heaved heavily. With the pain generated by the púca, some of his survival instincts woke. The haze was still trying to wrap its tentacles around him and suffocate him though.

A wave of emotions broke through his bond with Gibbs and flooded his mind. Anger, fear, determination, fury, frustration, protectiveness, annoyance. It tore so strongly through him that it yanked him into a sitting position. He heaved as he unseeingly stared at the wall. Morpheus jumped forward and slashed at his finger again. The púca was forced to jump back as one of the suddenly manifesting tails of Tony's slammed at the place where it had been standing. Adrenalin was running through the shifter's body again, fighting back at the venom that was trying to drown him. 

A series of curses in Aengarhi.

There was a cracking sound behind him. One of the tiny hands that were banging on the window managed to crack it. This time it did bother Tony.

"Okay, DiNozzo, what now?" he muttered. The window was off-limits, he couldn't afford to receive another drop of that damn venom. The thing on the other side of the door wouldn't be a problem if he could fully shift, but yeah... he couldn't fully shift. Where could he go?

Morpheus inched towards him again, but this time it didn't attack. The sprite tapped its tiny knuckles against the floor. Tony watched with confusion. Then the sound of the tiny creatures tapping changed and it finally clicked in Tony's mind. The smell that he had felt in this place through the day and of which he forgot about in this haze and adrenalin-filled predicament. This smell... could it be?

He leaned forward and pushed his long nails through the binder between the tiles. He grimaced at the strain on his muscles, but he managed to yank one of the tiles free. Under the dirt, there was wood. Morpheus' body shimmered and it shifted into a chimpanzee. The two worked together and removed several tiles and found a wooden trap door under it. It cracked a bit when Tony pulled it open and the smell became nearly unbearable, but it didn't matter. There was a crawl space under the cabin. Tony lowered himself down through the hole. It was small, he could only move around on all fours and it was cold, but also, it was escape.

Then the trapdoor was shut above him.

"Hey!" he hissed, but Morpheus was nowhere to be seen. He heard as the tiles were placed back to their original place. Then not long after that, somewhere above him, a glass broke. The shifter lowered himself down to the ground and listened. Soon though it became apparent that if he stopped moving, the haze started to return. So, as there was no other alternative, he started crawling around. The trapdoor was hidden, after all, there must be a reason behind that.

Then the ground gave away under him.

ψ

Tim blinked his eyes open when the expected pain didn't come. He stared up at the thing that used to be Trevin. The monster looked shocked as it turned its head from side to side. So many things had happened. Tim's gun had failed to kill Hans Trap. The monster had lunged at him, then he had been thrown at the wall. In defeat, the human agent wrapped his fingers around the talisman that had been given to him by Abby not long ago and waited for the end. It didn't come. Somehow, his life had been saved.

"Where the Hell are you, you little bitch!" Hans Trapp hissed. Its form blurred and the next moment it was Trevin standing in the middle of the room again. His passive face now looked angry as his eyes searched the room. That was when Tim finally understood. The thing couldn't see him. The human glanced down at the talisman in his hands. It was glowing with a green light.

Tim slowly rose as silently as he could. His left shoulder hurt like hell but staying very quiet meant survival. He moved away from the spot that he had occupied before and inched towards the window. Trevin let out a primal, rage-filled scream, grabbed the chair and threw it at the wall. Tim held the talisman tightly in his hand and glanced out of the window. The ground was way too far away. Even if he survived the jump, he wouldn't get far with injuries.

There was a loud thud and with a screeching sound, the desk that they had used as a barricade, moved. Tim realized that something was pushing the door open. Something big. The lock broke and a huge, black form forced its way inside. It was a huge cat. It entered the room lazily as Tim held his breath. The cat's body shook and a moment later Jace straightened his posture. He looked frustrated.

"There is something with them," he reported. 

"Do I look like someone, who cares?" Trevin snapped. "The asshole disappeared."

"Exactly!" Jace clapped.

"What?" 

An angry argument broke out between the two. Tim was stuck at the wall, near the window, clutching his medal with trembling fingers. He didn't dare to move. He suspected that Jace was a shifter too. Through Tony, he had acquired some knowledge on shifters, and he drew the conclusion that invisibility or not, it didn't look so good for him. Maybe it was just the zeal of the argument that made it possible for him to hide this long. Without external intervention, he was doomed.

Maybe it was the Spirit of Christmas that made it possible, but the external intervention arrived.

In the form of a black bear.

It exploded into the room through the window. Jace and Trevin jumped apart.

"This son of a bitch!" Jace shrieked. His whole body shook, and he turned into a huge cat. Trevin shouted furiously and jumped at the bear. He arrived on to its back and started to tear at its fur. The bear roared and tried to shake him off. The cat hissed at the pair and jumped forward. Suddenly the bear disappeared, and Trevin and the cat slammed at each other. Another angry shout of Trevin came out of the bundle of hate. Tim decided that there was no better time than this and dashed towards the door. He slipped and almost fell on the slippery wood but managed to stay on his feet. He ran towards the stairs and dashed downstairs. He stumbled as he missed the last step. He had to let go of the talisman as he grabbed for the wall to steady himself.

He yelped as something jumped onto his back. He tried to shake off the thing, but then he noticed that it was a black squirrel. The little hairy animal waved its tiny limb in the direction of the kitchen. Above them, he heard the thundering steps of their attackers. He followed Morpheus' directions and hurried through the kitchen and into the downstairs bathroom. He shut the door behind himself and shuddered as he saw the state of the room. Bloody glass covered the tiles in the room. However, there was no one else inside with him and Morpheus.

"Shall I climb out of the window?" Tim whisper asked his savior.

The púca took its original form and with its tiny fingers, it started picking up tiles from the floor. Soon a hidden trap door was presented to the human.

ψ

Kate followed Gibbs' lead as fast as she could as they dashed through the forest. She jumped over a fallen tree trunk and kept running. Behind them, loud crashing and snapping sounds thundered through the forest. Their pursuers were still there, seeking their blood. She barely got one or two glances at the tree-monsters, but that was enough to fill her with dread. She had seen huge, bulking bodies. The strong front limbs supported most of their weights. They moved like gorillas. However, unlike gorillas, these monsters had long and sharp looking horns on their heads. She couldn't be sure of their numbers, because in the thick forest visibility was nearly nonexistent during the night.

She herself ran out of plans at the same time as she fell out of the window with Gryla. At that time getting the monster away from their only human teammate was the most important task. She just hoped that Trevin alone wasn't that dangerous. Gryla seemed to be the leader of the pair, thus it was her job to dispose of her. After that, she just hoped that her immortality would solve everything. But as it turned out, it didn't. Now, their goal had to be keeping these things away from the others, but the complexity of their situation needed all their different skills together.

She tried to predict Gibbs' next move. He took the lead the moment they entered the forest. First, he led her deep inside, then she noticed that they were gradually turning right. In a large arc, they were trying to get back to the cabin. It was a logical plan. A way for them to regroup with the others if they can lead their pursuers deeply into the woods while they get out of it. She just wasn't optimistic enough to believe that it could work. She had her own idea. It had everything to do with her immortality and Gibbs' supernatural speed. Of course, she had her doubts about Gibbs' agreement of her plan.

Gibbs suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the left. There a fallen tree trunk, rock, and the snow created a small hiding place where the two of them could catch their breath. Except that neither of them needed to actually take a breath...

Gibbs turned his serious gaze on her.

"We need to get back to the cabin, regroup with the others and kill these fuckers."

"Sounds like a plan." Kate huffed. Gibbs raised his eyebrow at her.

"Yes, Agent Todd?" he asked testily. His eyes gave him away, like always. Behind Gibbs's anger, most of the time lay worry. The last couple of weeks had been hard on her boss and most of the time she tries to be as considerate as her religion demanded of her, but at times like this, her own less tactful self came to the front.

"I have a better idea," she said and returned his harsh gaze. Vampires knew how to read minds, not that he needed to do it. With Kate, her plans usually followed the same tactic.

"Forget it!" he snapped. His eyes darted around searching for their pursuers, but for the time being, they were alone.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" She hissed. Gibbs showed her his elonged teeth, but she ignored his anger. "This is what I can do! Right now, this is the only thing I'm capable of! You don't leave prints in the snow, I do! They would never know!"

"I don't leave my people behind!"

"Which is very noble of you, but right now you are being stupid!"

Somewhere a branch snapped. In a second, Gibbs's hand was on her mouth silencing her argument. They both listened for another noise, but there was nothing. Kate glanced at her boss as he slowly lowered his hand. All of his clothes were originally dark-colored, but most of them were covered by white snow. Her coat used to be beige colored once, but the fight with Gryla and their escape wasn't kind to it. However, with these colors, if they didn't move, they could more or less blend in.

"Anything?" she mouthed soundlessly as her boss glanced at her way. Gibbs' eyes darted around again. The blues of those orbs looked brighter and lighter this time. He was scanning for a trace.

Nothing.

There was another snapping sound. This time from the other side of them. They abandoned caution as they both snapped their heads in that direction. The forest was silent and unmoving around them. Somewhere above and to the north, a bird pushed itself into the air and flew away. The sound of its wings and its gawking reached the hiding figures. Kate shivered. She had died several times in her long life and thus, she knew that the pain didn't last forever, then the darkness was blissful and the return sudden. It didn't scare her anymore. However, this, the knowledge that there were things preying upon them, that was a horrible feeling.

There was no other sound, nor a flair of a trace. The only indication that something was horribly wrong, was the sudden horror that blossomed behind her sternum. Gibbs and she turned as one. Slowly, filled with dread.

The monster towered over them. The fallen trunk was dwarfed by the size of it. The horns reached upwards, towards the dark sky not unlike the bare trees around them. It didn't have eyes, it had deep, bottomless black holes in its head. She didn't know who it was looking at.

There was a crunch in the snow behind them.

It wasn't alone.

The creature in front of it moved, and she did too, meeting it almost half-way. It was her instinct. Shielding.

Finger-like things wrapped around her neck.

There was a snap, a flair of pain. It only lasted a moment.

She felt guilty and happy. The horror was over for her.

ψ

Morpheus was gone, he noticed after he pulled the trapdoor close. Above him, there was a sound. Tiles screeching on tiles. Was the little púca hiding the evidence? Tim smiled. He couldn't wait to brag about this to Tony. Maybe the shifter and the púca would finally find some truce between each other.

"If you fall on the top of me, I swear to God murder you!"

Tim blinked as the angry whisper reached him. He glanced around, but there was no light in the crawlspace.

"Tony?" he whispered back. "I can't see a thing."

There was a soft growling sound, then a soft glow filled the place. It came from his left and ... from below. He crawled a bit towards the light.

"Careful!" Tony's warning came.

There was a hole in the ground, Tim noted with a surprise. As he peered down, he noted that it was approximately six feet deep. Tony was sitting at the bottom of it. The light came from the shifter's phone.

"You okay?" Tim asked. 

"There is a cave, I think. Come down!" Tony ordered, still quietly. "Just don't fall on me!"

Tim searched for a way to climb. There wasn't. He decided to lower himself down and try not to step on the shifter. After some grunting and cursing, he arrived at the bottom of the hole, next to the shifter.

"You look horrible," he commented. It was an understatement though. Tony looked younger again, his original shifter age showing. His hair tips looked bluish-white. His clothes were torn and bloody, just like his hands and face. There were scratch marks on his cheeks and bite marks on his hands. His eyes looked dazed, but sometimes red and golden flickered in his irises. He looked angry too.

"You are not so handsome either," he muttered. He turned his gaze away from the human's searching ones and waved at something with his glowing phone. "Cave."

Tim thought about asking questions about the situation and the welfare of the shifter, but in the end, he just turned towards the shown direction. Indeed. There was a small cave there.

"Erm..." Tim scratched the back of his neck. He so knew the answer, but he needed to ask. "Do you want to go in there?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Tony huffed. He slowly got to his feet. Tim watched with concern as the shifter's legs shook with the effort and he had to lean heavily against the wall.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Tony closed his eyes and growled. When he next opened them, they were glowing with red-golden light. He too looked a bit stronger as he pushed himself away from the cave's fall.

"Do you have your gun?" he asked.

"Lost it," Tim replied with regret. He should have picked it up during his run from the room, but that time the primal need to get away from the danger had overdriven his logical thinking.

Tony muttered something under his nose and stepped to the opening of the cave. He had to lean down and bend his knees a little to get inside the hole. It looked very uncomfortable and Tim thought they had a solution for that.

"Why don't you shift? As a normal-sized wolf, you could fit in there."

"Can't shift," Tony replied and took another step deeper inside. Tim lunged forward and pulled him back. Tony almost lost his balance and he had to lean against the cave wall. He looked dizzy again.

"What are you talking about?" Tim asked. He was concerned. The shifter looked like someone on drugs. Tim had a few traumatic experiences with his supernatural friend, excuse him if he was worried a little. Tony rubbed his face with a tired sigh, then shook it slightly.

"Little assholes must have been venomous," Tony replied after a while lazily.

Tim gaped at first, then his training kicked in.

"Wait, you... you have to lie down. Yes. And we have to keep your heart rate slow."

Tony just looked tiredly as the list of need to do poured out of Tim's mouth. One of his long, white tails became corporal and wrapped around the lower part of Tim's face, effectively silencing him.

"Listen." he started as Tim blinked at him with owlish eyes. "I am a shifter. My anatomy and physiology are completely different from yours. Please, try to keep this in mind, okay? My immune system has probably had inactivated most of it. So, can we please concentrate on this little hole of doom right in front of us? Because the smell that's coming out of it reminds me of Dante's Inferno. "

Tim gave him a jerky nod and the tail disappeared. The human nervously tugged at his own shirt as Tony ducked into the cave. Tim had still no real idea on how to handle his teammate's newly found secret life, but the need to step in and do something was always there. It was just way too difficult. He decided to just follow Tony for now. 

The cave was narrow and dark. Tony's phone gave barely enough light for them to see the ground under their feet. Everything was cold and wet, Tim noted with a grimace. Not only that, but it seemed like that as they were going deeper, they were also going lower. The cave was not straight, it was curling like a serpentine. He kept his left hand on the wall for support in case of slipping. This was how he noticed something strange. 

"The walls are uneven," he stated quietly. Tony stopped and turned towards him. His eyes were bright red-golden colored. He leveled his phone, guiding the light towards the walls. There were several marks on it. 

"Sigils?" Tim prompted. 

"Yeah..." Tony hummed distractedly. He followed the lines with his index finger then turned his attention to another mark. "They were designed to trap something," he added. "But they failed. See? They are damaged." 

Tim nodded as Tony showed him the added, ragged lines crossing each sigil. They looked like claw marks. 

"Do you know what were they trying to trap?" he asked nervously. 

"Idea? Yes. But if I'm right, then we'll find ourselves in a very shitty situation." Tony flashed his eyes at Tim. The human agent felt the hair stand on his neck. The shifter was dead serious. It was bad news. Very bad news. 

"We need the others," he whispered. It was not just a statement. Somehow it was a plea too. 

Tony's face softened a bit, but he didn't smile, nor did he joke. 

"Come on!" he urged gently and moved to lead the way. 

ψ 

Gryla kept her arm linked with Krampus as they stood between the trees. There was no moonlight to shine through the thick woods, but she didn't need it. She could see the body in front of her perfectly in the darkness too. The woman who had attacked her back in the cottage was lying on the snow, her pretty face bloody, her neck bent. Her eyes were closed, her features serene. She almost looked happy. 

"Will she join us too?" Krampus asked. There was something in his voice that bothered her. More Adam than Krampus. 

"No," she replied. She put coldness into her voice. She felt the change in the monster next to her and she suppressed a smile. "We are late for that." 

"Understand." Krampus nodded. 

A sudden cold feeling ran through Gryla's body and she shivered. Something was amiss. Out of order. Krampus felt her movements and placed a calming hand onto her shoulder. 

"Find the vamp!" she snapped and pushed away from the hand and the claws. "Bring me his head!" 

She didn't listen to Krampus' confirming words, she strode back towards the cottage.

Something was out of order. 

ψ 

Gibbs kept his lips pressed together while he glided through the forest. He was not thinking about Kate. There would be a time and place for that. Later. He concentrated on not living prints in the snow, keeping out of the way of the monsters. They were still hunting him, but not brainlessly. 

With growing frustration, he noticed that there were two groups. The members of one of the groups were the ones who did the chasing, while the other group created a circle around the cottage. He didn't find a way around them. At least not yet. 

He jumped up onto a tree and hid between the branches. He pressed his body against the trunk and stopped moving. A few minutes went by. Then one of the tree monsters crashed through the trees. It stopped for a moment. It turned its robust head around. The two holes that should have been its eyes slipped over Gibbs' hiding place. Then the thing started moving again, towards the cottage. 

Gibbs scanned the woods for trace. The tree monsters' were weak, it took some time to get used to it. However, he had sharp eyes and after a little bit of concentration, he could map out the whereabouts of the monsters. 

He cursed as he saw another trace racing through the woods. This trace was the strongest and the darkest of them all. It was that female monster. He noted with a sinking feeling that it was heading towards the cottage. 

He concentrated on his bond with his shifter, but it had weakened significantly. Like there was a barrier between them and Tony was getting further and further away. It was anything but reassuring. Despite that, he tried to send a warning through the bond. 

There was no answering acknowledgment.

This time he felt the trace rather than saw it and he jumped instinctively. There was a loud crash and cracking. The tree broke and the upper part crashed to the ground. Two heavy thuds as the knuckles of the monster hit the snow. The big head leaned forward and stopped close to the vampire. Up this close, Gibbs could see the trace even better. Twisted and tortured essence. It was heartbreaking. 

The monster raised its arm. It looked like ready to strike. Gibbs tensed his body, waiting for the opening. He saw something moving in his peripheral vision, but couldn't concentrate on it. The heavy hand came down and he had to move. He barely dodged it even as it was. These damn things were surprisingly fast. Another swipe, then another. The arm was coming down again when a huge black blur joined the fray. It looked like a black tiger. It's long and graceful body latched onto the arm. The monster let out a roar and tried to shake the feline off, but it skillfully leaped onto its head. That seemed to drive the monster crazy. It slapped against its own head, shook itself, crawled at its own face. Gibbs watched almost in shock as the monster tore itself apart. The black tiger jumped onto the ground gracefully and walked up to the vampire. Behind it, the monster crashed to the ground, but soon Gibbs turned his gaze away from the pitiful twitching remains. 

"Morpheus." 

It was an acknowledgment and gratitude placed together in one name. The tiger didn't react, just watched the vampire for another moment, then hurried away, deeper into the woods. Gibbs moved to continue his way towards the cottage but stopped. Another trace was approaching his location. He decided to stay and wait. He didn't move away from the battle created a little clearing. He didn't have to wait long. A few moments later the dark figure of Krampus emerged out of the cover of the trees. It was dragging its heavy chains behind itself. Gibbs called up the trace of the tree monster from before and compared it with Klaus'. He finally saw it, the nagging feeling which had planted itself into the back of his mind at the beginning of this horrible night. 

"You are an interesting person, Gibbs," Adam's curious voice came out of the creature. "Do you find me interesting too?" 

Clarity brought hope and sadness at the same time. Gibbs forcefully relaxed his posture. Krampus cocked its head to the side in confusion. 

"I'm afraid, you are not as unique as you think, Adam," he replied. 

"What do you mean by that?"

"You are not what you think you are." 

Krampus roared, suddenly furious, and swung its chains towards Gibbs. The vampire leaped out of the way, rolled and arrived onto his two feet.

"You are not the Monster of Christmas!"

There was another angry outburst. The chains flew through the air and despite Gibbs' speed, the cold metal still caught his left arm. The sound of snapping bone was followed by Gibbs' pained grunt. He cradled his injured limb and remained in a tensed crouch. But he still had facts to reveal.

"You are human!" 

"I am the Devil!" Krampus shouted. This time he missed the vampire and chains wrapped around one of the trees. He yanked at it angrily. His whole body shimmered, revealing Adam's decomposing body for a second, then he was Krampus again. 

"You are a human, who was murdered. You died a horrible death, then you were brought back to life to become the toy of a witch!" 

Krampus roared. His body shimmered again. This time it didn't turn back. Adam's decaying body turned towards Gibbs. His eyes were completely black. His rotting lips were pulled back to form a snarl. His trace was shimmering wildly, furiously. 

"You are a draugr. An again-walker." 

Adam's reply was an animalistic scream. Then the monster backed into the woods. Gibbs kept a close eye on the retreating trace as long as he could see it. Then after a deep breath, he reset his arm. 

He was close to solving the case, alright. But he still needed to defeat the enemy. He needed a backup for that. 

ψ

"There is light ahead!" Tony noted after a long silence. Tim took a relieved breath. The darkness felt like a thick, pressing, threatening fog that surrounded and suffocated him. The promise of light was everything he wished for. After a few more steps, he could see it too. First, the darkness just got a bit less heavy, then his retina finally registered the small, flickering light. As they approached it, it grew, got stronger, a bit brighter. 

Finally, they stepped into a chamber.

"Holy, hell! What is this place?" he asked. 

The chamber was big. Big enough for Tony's fully shifted form to get around comfortably. The walls were covered with the now-familiar sigils. All of them were damaged one way or another. The light was coming from the several torches on the wall and they were burning with an unnaturally cold fire. There was a stone tomb in the middle of the chamber, its surface was covered by symbols, sigils, foreign words. However, Tim found four little altar-like things more interesting. 

Tony walked up to the tomb and gently brushed the dust off the letters that were carved into it. Tim followed his movements with his eyes and noted with a sinking feeling that the lid was askew. 

"That explains so much." Tony sighed. 

"Previously you mentioned something about us being in a shitty situation. Does it still stand?" Tim asked as he walked up to the shifter. 

"It's a _traviréla_ ," Tony said. From the way the syllables rolled off the shifter's tongue, Tim knew that the word was in Aengarhi. The language that the human didn't speak.

"What does it mean?" 

Tony closed his eyes as he searched for the word. His memories still had little dark spots in them, although they were slowly disappearing. 

"It's... Strzyga!" 

"And you are not ordinary human either." cold settled in Tim's stomach as the new voice filled the chamber. Out of the darkness, first too long, bent fingers appeared and grabbed the wall. Then slowly the horror figure of Gryla's body emerged. She bent her head at an unnatural angle. Under the twisted features, Tim could make out the lines of Amelia's face. However, her skin was grey, her eyes black and her hair pooled around her in a twisted dark mess.

Tony stepped forward, his tails manifested and swarmed around him and Tim. The familiar, threatening growl that rumbled deeply in the shifter's chest brought comfort for the human. 

"Huh! What an interesting creature! You shall have your own altar, boy!" Gryla smiled at Tony. Tim glanced nervously at the nearest candlelit altar. Between the candles, tokens, symbols, his eyes settled on a familiar watch. He had seen it on Trevin's wrist when they had been barricading the room. 

"A shifter can't be turned into a draugr!" Tony grinned. 

Gryla's face hardened. She fully entered the chamber. The air shimmered around her. 

"But a shifter can die by the hands of a strzyga!" she snarled. As she raised her hands, Tim felt something soft wrap around him. He was lifted off his feet and he was thrown backward, onto the other side of the tomb. The soft thing, a glance confirming that it was Tony's tail, slipped off his torso as Tony lunged forward. However, the shifter couldn't reach the strzyga, he was pushed back by an invisible force. Tony collided against one of the altars. The candles fell to the ground and its wooden pieces caught on fire. The smell of burning herbs reached Tim. The human crouched down next to the tomb and thought about his forgotten gun somewhere in the cottage. Tony jumped to his feet and roared at the strzyga. The air was filled with the heaviness of the shifter's trace. Tony leaped and the strzyga met him in the middle with a banshee-like scream. They rolled on the ground, Gryla's dark robes covering them. Tony's tails swirled madly around the pair. 

ψ

She opened her eyes but didn't take a breath. There were branches above her and snow around. It was still night but the promise of dawn was there. It was the darkest hour. The hour of the living dead and every child of the night. Her senses came back one by one. First, her sight. Than the receptors of her skin, the synapses that keep tabs of her joints. She felt how her vertebrae slipped into place one by one. Then her nose picked up the scent of snow, the pines around her, the coppery scent of her own blood. The last was her hearing. However, the first sound she heard, was the most beautiful one. She sat up and her eyes found the white creature that was floating above the snow and gently flicker from one side to the other. The Mari Lwyd was singing a song that stirred something deep in Kate's core. She felt her insides twist. She took a deep breath and something gave inside her. A power surge broke free and spread out in her body. She stood and the Mari Lwyd rose too. They stared into each other and there was a connection between them. Something so unique. 

Bound by Death herself.

Kate turned and everything was clear. 

She was powerful. 

She grinned.

ψ

Tiny reptile-like creatures swarmed in one place on the porch of the cabin. Their bodies lost their integrity. They melted against each other than into each other. They first formed a huge black puddle, then a figure started rising out of the liquid. First, an arm shot out, palm slapped against the ground then a faceless head, another arm, torso, then two legs. The creature swung its head from side to side, out of the dark liquid a face started to emerge. Dark, bloody, messy blond hair fell forward and from under it, Heather's face appeared. One of her eyes was missing, there was a huge scar running down from her left ear to the left corner of her mouth. Her intact eye moved around wildly as she rose from her crouch. She lifted her hands up in front of her face and stared at her skeleton-like fingers. Only gray flash was covering a few of them. Her nails were long and deformed. Claw like.

Her mind couldn't register the sudden change in her twisted afterlife. She threw back her head and screamed. 

"Heather?"

She snapped her head to the side as the name she had known as her own reached her ears. A boy was standing at the door of the cabin. His face was twisted in horror. Green eyes regarded her with fear. 

She was unable to form words. Not in her mind, not with her mouth. She didn't understand threat, nor kindness or companionship. The boy staggered away from her.

She moved to follow. She crawled across the porch. There was a sound coming out of her, which she didn't register. 

The door slammed shut before she could get inside. She lifted her hand and crawled at the wood. She lost a nail. Then another. The sound was still coming out of her. 

Another noise joined that one. She couldn't make a difference between nice or twisted. It was new, that's all. Her head turned towards it. There were two figures approaching. The sound was coming from one of them, it stopped at the edge of the forest. The other one continued towards her. The sound kept getting stronger as the other form approached. Heather turned and crawled towards them. 

The figure reached her. Two arms lifted. Thin fingers wrapped around her neck. Her whole body was raised from the ground. The white eyes that stared at her trapped her screaming mind. 

She didn't feel it when her head was torn off her body. 

Finally, peace settled over her anguished soul.

ψ 

Gibbs glided through the forest following Adam's trace. There was another tree monster in front of him. He didn't slow down. He finally knew how to defeat these things. He leaped and arrived on its head between the horns. The creature roared and swung his head from side to side. He pushed his elonged nails into the wood under his palms then yanked. The roar got louder. A pair of tree arms swung towards him. Gibbs jumped, gripped one of them. He used the momentum of the arm and jumped again. He arrived on another tree. Then he launched himself on to the beast again. Huge tree claws sank into the wood that formed the head. It tore its own head off.

There was another roar. Gibbs cursed. He jumped off the crumbling form just in time to avoid the other tree monster as it tackled its dying sibling to the ground. The first one crumbled into a heap of branches, but the newcomer had its eyes on the vampire. 

Gibbs jumped back as a huge arm swung towards him. A sudden idea formed in his mind. He whistled loudly. The arm reached for him again and this time he swung himself on it. The other arm moved to crush him, but he jumped again and grabbed that one. He whistled again and this time there was an answering howl. Then another sound, a trumpet. 

The monster didn't notice the approaching danger despite the loud crashing of the trees. Its whole attention was fixated on the vampire. Then an elephant charged through the woods and crashed into the leg of the monster. It lost its balance and fell back. The ground shook after the huge impact. The black elephant turned and attacked the head. It rose to its two legs and slammed the front ones down. The monster didn't move again.

"This time stick around!" Gibbs ordered the púca. 

The elephant's body shook, then it shifted into a bored-looking husky. Morpheus stared at Gibbs, then looked past him. He suddenly pulled back its lips from his long canines and growled. Gibbs spun around just in time to catch the crazed Adam as he lunged at him. Adam screamed madly and tried to bite the vampire. 

Gibbs heard the roar of another tree monster and the answering cry of a tiger. 

_When will this end?_

He held Adam's wrists but despite that, the draugr still tried to bite him. The teenager was tall and heavy. Gibbs really needed to get the upper hand. He hissed, eyes turned bright blue, his own trace flared. Adam screamed and jumped back like someone burnt. The crazed draugr cradled his arms close to his chest. There were actual burnt marks on his wrists. Gibbs rose to his feet. The snow swirled around the vampire. 

Adam screamed again and launched himself at him. Gibbs met him in the middle. Long nails sank into the neck of the again-walker and he ribbed out whatever caught between them. There was a gurgling sound. Adam tried to crawl at Gibbs. The vampire finished the job with a kick. There hadn't been lots of tissue holding the neck together, but the rest gave at the force. The head flew away and the body collapsed onto the ground. 

Gibbs turned around, but in the heath of his fight, he didn't even notice that Morpheus had taken care of the third tree monster too. 

"Come on!" Gibbs held out his hand. Morpheus took the form of a squirrel and climb up on it and sat on the vampire's shoulder. 

"Let's get back to the cabin!" 

ψ

Gryla's and Tony's fight raged on and despite what Tim hoped, the strzyga was getting the upper hand. Tony's body was covered in old and new wounds and he was still unable to shift. His anger was still burning and probably that was the only thing that kept him on his feet. With one powerful swing of one of his corporal tails, he sent the strzyga flying, slamming her against the cave wall. He let out a deafening roar of mixed triumph and warning. However, after it, his body slummed a little. He needed help, but Tim didn't have anything to help him with. His only source of information could only be the tomb in front of him, but he didn't understand the words that were carved into its side. 

Gryla rose slowly from the ground. Her dark robe was ripped, black liquid was oozing from her wounds. A twisted grin formed on her battered face. 

"You don't look so good, shifter!" she mocked. 

Tony snarled at her, his tails swung wildly. His eyes were almost completely red. His veins pulsed with blue light under his skin. He didn't reply with a witty comment. He looked way too tired for that.

One of the altars suddenly went up in flames next to him. Tony jumped back with a wince. 

Gryla let out an outraged, animalistic scream. 

Tony glanced at her then back at the burning altar. 

"You lost your puppet!" he grinned. 

"Everything has been perfect for so long! Then you came along and this..." she hissed. "You will pay for this! You all!" 

Her right hand glowed with dark power. She pulled back her arm and made a throwing gesture. However, her target wasn't the shifter. Still, somehow Tony managed to figure out her intentions at the last moment and with supernatural speed, managed to tackle Tim out of the way. Yet, the dark power burnt the shifter's left shoulder and two of his tails. 

"Damn it!" Tony hissed. 

"Shit!" Tim reached out but stilled his hands, not wanting to hurt his protector. 

He had to do something. Tony was not up for the fight anymore. At least not alone. 

Wait...

"Hide your trace!" he ordered Tony. The shifter blinked at him in confusion, but the next moment, his tails disappeared, his hair looked brown again, his eyes green. Tim wrapped his fingers around his talisman and grabbed Tony's right shoulder. 

Gryla, who had started moving towards them stilled. She blinked at them with confusion clear on her horrifying face.

"Where the fuck did you go?" she shrieked. 

Tony looked as confused as her. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tim gripped his shoulder harder and shook his head. He did a tiny wave with his talisman hoping that the shifter will understand. Tony blinked, once, twice, then there was clarity. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his own talisman. As he wrapped his long fingers around it, that talisman appeared to glow too. Tim carefully released his shoulder, but Gryla still seemed to be unable to see them. 

But they could see each other. 

Tim waved with his hand and somehow Tony understand that he was urging him to move away from that spot. They separated and moved to two different ends of the room. Good thing, because Gryla threw another dark energy burst at that place, hoping to hit them. She let out a frustrated shriek as it turned out that she didn't manage to beat anyone. 

Tim really wished he had learned sign language previously, it would have been really handy at that moment. He didn't have a choice, he had to make Tony understand his intentions that way. He pointed at Tony, then at Gryla, then he pulled his finger across his own neck. He thought that this way, the shifter had a chance to kill her.

However, Tony shook his head. He pointed at the two remaining altars. When Tim didn't move, the shifter started towards the closest one carefully. As soon as he was in arms-reach, he grabbed one of the candles and threw it between the herbs. They immediately caught on fire and in a moment, the altar went up in flames. 

"No!" Gryla screamed and flew towards the one remaining altar. "What have you done, you idiots!" she shrieked. 

Tim didn't fully understand what was going on, but suddenly destroying the one remaining altar became really important. He wished he had known that before. He could have done it during the other two's fight. 

Gryla made their mission really difficult. She was lashing out blindly. Energy crackled around her. Tim was closer to the altar, but he couldn't find any opening in her furious defenses. He sent a helpless look at the shifter. Tony was leaning against the wall on the other side of the cave and he looked completely spent. However, his green eyes were watching Gryla with a thoughtful sharpness. He glanced at Tim and the human understood with a sinking feeling what his intentions were. Tim shook his head and mouthed no at him, but Tony's mind was set. He pushed his talisman into his jean's pocket and his eyes flashed red. He launched himself at the surprised Gryla. She was unprepared, so he managed to push her to the ground. His teeth got longer, his hair turned white-blue. He bit down on the neck of the strzyga. Gryla let out a scream. 

Tim darted forward and swiped everything off the last remaining altar. 

A huge energy blast burst out of Gryla's body and the shifter and the human were both flung away from her. Tim hit the merciless ground with a loud thud. He whimpered as he tried to move, but his whole body just hurt! His vision was blurry, but with great difficulty, his eyes managed to zero on a form that, he noted with a sinking feeling, was approaching him. 

"You ruined everything!" Gryla's voice filled his mind. "You, human, will be mine. As my slave, you will atone for your sins through the blood of others." 

A deformed hand was reaching for him, but he couldn't move, just watch. Her fingers wrapped around his neck and he was lifted off the ground. From up close, she looked even more horrifying. The huge hole in her neck with the black blood didn't help either. He tried to pry the fingers off, but he was too weak to do anything.

The familiar growl was music for his ears. Gryla let out a dramatic sigh. 

"I guess, I have to kill your dog first!" 

The tail that swung towards her was grabbed by her other hand. She released Tim and he collapsed to the ground. He turned his head towards his shifter friend. 

God!

Tony didn't look so good. 

_Where were the others?_

ψ

There was a figure pacing up and down in the cabin. Its movements were hobbly, erratic, unnatural. Kate knew what that meant. Another draugr had been set free from its bounds. She stepped over Heather's broken body and made her way up on the front steps of the porch. Mari Lwyd was singing behind her, the unearthly melody settled a comforting blanket over her. 

The sound of her boots caught the attention of the draugr inside. The creature's hobbling movements ceased and it turned towards the door. Kate grabbed the handle of the door and tried to open it. However, it was locked. 

She smiled to herself. Brute force, then. 

She yanked and the wood gave. She threw the now useless thing away and stepped inside. Jace's corpse staggered towards her. His one intact arm reached for her, but she batted it away. She pulled up her right leg and kicked the draugr in the stomach. The force of the impact sent it staggering backward and it ended up on the floor. Jace screeched and turned, hand reaching for her again. 

Kate smiled a smile she is usually not proud of, then she lunged onto the downed figure and sank her teeth into the rotting flash under her. The figure writhed under her, but she was stronger. With one forceful tug, the one failing arm gave and she threw it away from them. With now free hands, she tore into the chest under her. 

ψ

There was no more tree monster to stop them, but Gibbs saw several fallen remains. He sent a thankful glance at the púca on his shoulder as he glided through the forest, towards the cabin. As he neared the building, he spotted Heather's broken body laying outside in the snow. He turned his gaze away from her and tried not to think about the pain that the death of young children awoke in him. 

He used his momentum and leaped up. This time there was nothing to stop him from reaching the upstairs window. He grabbed the windowsill and pulled himself up. Morpheus took its original form and jumped into the room. It hopped towards the end table by the door. 

Gibbs lifted his head when the shimmer of a weak trace caught his eyes. 

The draugr was hanging from the ceiling. It looked like he was resting on it on all four, just upside down. A twisted grin appeared on Trevin's face and he pushed himself off the ceiling. He turned in mid-air and arrived on the top of the púca. Morpheus shrieked at the sudden attack, but it didn't manage to shift into a bigger form. Trevin pushed the little sprite down and with his free hand, grabbed its tiny arm. He twisted it. 

This was when Gibbs reached them. 

Trevin moved surprisingly fast and threw the whimpering little púca at the vampire. Gibbs caught Morpheus and skidded to a halt. He gathered the little creature against his chest and hissed at the draugr. 

"Come on, you monster!" Trevin had his sick grin on again. Black liquid dripped from his mouth as he spoke. Considering that he was a freshly awakened draugr, he was way too aware and in control. 

Gibbs put the púca down onto the floor and ordered it to get out of the room. Morpheus' answer was a full-bodied tremble and then he disappeared. Probably, he turned into something really small. However, Gibbs didn't take his eyes off Trevin to check. The draugr rose to his feet and cocked his head to the side. 

For an again-walker to be this aware, it must have died and gone through the adjusting period a long time ago, moreover, it has to come out of with an intact mind. It rarely happens. 

"Come on, Vamp!" Trevin challenged him. The draugr jumped and stuck to the ceiling again. He started crawling on it towards Gibbs. The vampire moved away from him carefully. He knew that this fight would be more difficult compared to the one against Adam. First of all, he had to get that thing off the damn ceiling. He leaped up and tried to grab the again-walker, but Trevin slipped out of his grasp. Trevin jumped off the ceiling and managed to keep himself on the wall. Like a fucking spider. A big, twisted, dripping, dead spider.

Trevin kept up that game of tag with way too much delight. But then the game turned into a wrestle when after a clever turn, the draugr launched himself at the vampire. The sudden change of tactic caught Gibbs off guard and the two toppled to the grounds. Gibbs dug his heels into the floor and pushed himself away from the draugr. However, Trevin grabbed his left ankle and pulled him back. Hissing in anger, Gibbs pulled up his right leg and kicked his enemy in the chest. Hard. He felt and heard the crack of Trevin's sternum. The draugr huffed with a strange, whistling sound, but didn't give up. He tried to jump away again, but this time Gibbs was the one who grabbed onto the other. His fingers wrapped around Trevin's belt, and with his supernatural strength, he threw the draugr across the room. Defining gravity, Travin's feet touched the wall and he remained there, crouching. The sick, twisted grin was back. Gibbs waited for his attack and when he did, he too jumped, grabbed the chandelier, twisted his body using his momentum and arrived onto the back of the again-walker. He ignored Trevin's angry shout and started hitting him with his knuckles mercilessly. 

Suddenly the sickly look of the draugr disappeared and Trevin's terrified, bloody, human face blinked up at him. 

"Please! Please stop! You have to help me! Please!" the teenage boy begged under him.

It would have been a convincing act if not for that dark trace that enveloped his form. 

"Nice try!" Gibbs spat and brought down his knuckles again. Out of nowhere, Trevin's right arm came up, fingers long, needle-like, and sank into the vampire's neck. Gibbs pushed himself away, felt his own blood bubble out of his wounds and his mouth. Shit! 

"Die, you useless bastard!" Trevin shouted and moved to attack again when a knife slipped through his own neck. Its silver-colored tip glistened in the moonlight. The draugr let out a gurgling sound and fell to the ground. His body twitched several times, then he stilled. 

Gibbs glanced at the dark figure on the other side of the corpse. The black sprite was snarling at the dead teenager, its broken arm cradled carefully against its chest.

Gibbs waited a few minutes for his healing powers to work when he felt his wounds close, he thanked Morpheus for the life-saving. Again. As Gibbs rose to his feet he swayed a little. He cursed softly. His wounds healed, but the blood loss still needed to be taken care of. He just didn't have the time for it. He gingerly pulled the knife out of Trevin's body. It was his Blessed Knife. He shot a dark look at Morpheus, but the little creature just gazed back innocently. He whipped the weapon clean on his trousers and attached the blade to his belt. He stumbled out of the room and made his way downstairs. He stopped half-way though at the grizzly sight that greeted him. Almost in the middle of the family room, what looked like Jace's body lay sprawled. Stradling the body was Kate in her dirty, wet, bloody coat. She was bent forward over the neck of the body, her dark hair shielded her face which for Gibbs was thankful. 

"Kate," he called softly. 

She lifted her head and looked at him. Her whole face was bloody, especially her lips. Her irises were white, her black pupils were creating a disturbing contrast. Her face was slack, devoid of emotions. 

"Easy there..." Gibbs spoke gently as he finished his descend fully. Kate rose to her feet, still watching him. The white stayed in her eyes, but the slackness of her face dissolved. 

"I'm me, Gibbs," she answered. She stepped over Jace's body, planted her two feet next to each other and crossed her arms. Gibbs watched her for a moment or two, but then just nodded jerkily. She waved at the general direction of his neck. 

"That... doesn't look good," she commented. 

"Later." Gibbs glanced at her one last time. "Let's go, the others need us." 

Her white eyes darted around. Gibbs didn't wait for her question, he had his own shifter radar. He followed the pull into the bathroom. There the tiles were completely ruined, the pieces of a wooden trap door covered almost everything. He crouched down next to the hole in the ground and peeked into the crawl space under the cabin. 

"Come on!" he ordered and lowered himself down. 

"You gotta be kidding me!"

He ignored Kate's protests and crawled forward in the darkness. He followed the mix of traces filling up the place. This is why the hole in the ground wasn't a surprise to him. He carefully moved his legs in front of him, then gracefully pushed himself off the edge. He arrived in a crouch. There was a cave in front of him. He had to bend down a bit to fit in. He heard a soft thud behind himself, a quick glance confirmed that Kate had caught up with him. She nodded at him and he turned back towards the darkness ahead of him. 

ψ

The talisman failed to work the third time, Tim recognized with a sinking feeling. He had pushed himself against the wall after Gryla's last attack. He hoped that with the help of his talisman, he could pull another stunt to help Tony. But as he had mentioned before, his talisman stopped working. It lost its warm glow.

Tim turned his attention back to the scene in front of him. It wasn't even a fight anymore. Gryla was probably just playing with them. Tony was crouching between to destroyed altars, he was panting and bleeding. His supernatural healing ability couldn't keep up with his injuries. Two almost totally transparent tails were wrapped around the shifter. Four was outstretched, binding Gryla's limbs. They were pushing against the strzyga, trying to keep her away. Two other tails were swatting towards her warningly. 

Gryla's body was enveloped in that strange, dark magic again. The tails that had been curled around her burnt. Tony whimpered and pulled them back. He was biting down on his lower lip, there was that strange light back in his eyes from before. He started to look like his post-Horde self again. Young, bloody, lost, angry. 

Gryla laughed. 

"Do you know how a strzyga is born?" she asked. Her tone was full of all the wrong kind of glee. "I am a pair of twins! I was born with two hearts, two sets of teeth and two souls. I was more than one and the people couldn't stand it!" she spat. "They chased me away, left me to die! But only one soul of mine did. They buried me face down with a sickle around my head. They hammered stakes into my body, put flint into my mouth. But they couldn't stop me from rising!" 

"They forgot to cut your head off." Tony deadpanned. 

That wasn't the right thing to say, or maybe only if your goal was pissing the strzyga off even more. Gryla hollered and sent another energy blast at the shifter. Tony probably didn't have the energy to jump out of the way anymore, he just curled his remaining tails around himself as the last attempt to protect himself. He was pushed off his feet and slammed against the cave wall. His body left a dent behind in it as he collapsed onto the ground. Gryla appeared above him, dark energy crackling around her claw-like fingers. 

"Stupid child!" she spat. 

Tony turned his head towards her and gave her a smile full of teeth. They were coated in his blood, which made the smile even more creepy. 

"You are so dead!" he said cheekily.

Gryla looked confused, Tim too felt incredulousness appear on his own face. 

Then a silver blur collided with the strzyga sending her flying away from the shifter. The blur was Gibbs. A very pissed of Gibbs with glowing blue eyes, fangs on full display, and with what Tim suspected trace swarming around him. His Blessed Knife was held threateningly in his right hand.

"Took you long enough!" Tony pouted up at the vampire. Gibbs shot him a disapproving look but didn't reply. He kept his attention on the strzyga that was slowly rising to her feet. Her eyes took in the scene in front of him, they were flying from one person to the other. Her anger seemed to flare as she gazed at something at the opening of the cave. Tim turned his head to check and gasped. Kate was slowly walking out of the darkness, entering the cave. Her white eyes and bloody face gave her a disturbing look. Another harsh reminder that his friends are not just cool, supernatural creatures, but very terrifying ones too. 

"What a colorful company!" Gryla mocked. "Time to take this seriously."

Her body shook. Her black robes swirled then rose. The fabric turned into long, black feathers. Two long wings curled around her form. Her whole body was covered in feathers. Her nose became flat, practically melted into her skin. Her lips thinned almost to nothingness. Her ears grew long, curling slightly behind her head. Her face became even more hollow, her cheekbones stood out, almost taking up all the space. 

"You stand down!" Gibbs told Tony, then sent a meaningful glance at Tim. So, it was addressed to him as well. The vampire adjusted his hold on his knife and took on a fighting stance. 

The flames of the torches flickered, dimmed. 

The strzyga's wings stretched out. The air pulsated with trace. A supernatural combination of dark and gray. Even as a human, Tim knew there was no light among them. Not even his friends. He pulled his knees up to his chest and his fingers wrapped around his own ears. He tried to watch as the fight broke out. 

Gibbs disappeared then he was there, on the top of the strzyga. The silver knife flashed in the dim light. It looked alight as it sank into the dark feather-covered wings. The wings of the strzyga fluttered, they rose above the ground. The claws of her legs came up and sank into the tights of the vampire. She tore him off herself. However, Gibbs ripped the claws out of his own flash and jumped. A power Tim didn't understand allowed him to arrive to the ground with grace and lightness and push himself back into the fight. 

In the meantime, Kate had grabbed one of the torches. It flared up in her hand. There was a not-Kate grin on her face. It showed too many teeth. She launched herself at the strzyga. Gryla shrieked as the flames touched her wings and burnt her feathers. An energy burst broke out of her body, hitting the zombie with full force. Kate slammed against the tomb. There was a sickening crack. 

However, she didn't stay down. Her body rose seemingly on its own accord. Her head was hanging back, her arms limp, but her leg straightened, her spine slipped into place after one crack and the other. Then her head slammed forward. Her mouth was open, her eyes white. There was a gurgling sound, then she was moving again with a battle cry. She grabbed one of the wings and tucked. 

Snap. Snap. Snap. 

Gryla screamed. 

Her clawed hands slashed at the zombie. She tore through the dirty clothes and blood splattered to the ground. 

Then something happened that Tim knew could happen from the Codex, but he had never seen before. 

Hundreds of bats filled the chamber. They swirled around. The torches flickered out one by one. Tim saw as the swirling blackness danced around Gibbs' form. In their movements, there was something unnatural. Like a crowd bowing to their Lord. Sounds right. Gibbs was one of the Kings of the Night. The children of the Darkness answered to him. 

The vampire extended his arm and with one elegant gesture, he presented the prey. 

Gryla screamed as the bats surrounded her and mercilessly bit into her skin. Her one more or less intact wing fluttered against the wave. Her arms flailed. She did hit some of the bloodsuckers and they fell to the ground twitching.

There was another unearthly scream and black energy tore through the dark cloud. Hundreds of bats cried out as one and exploded into dust. 

In the sudden silence, Gryla's laugh was physically painful. Tim felt his own soul protest against it. His hands slipped from his ears and settled above his heart. A childish motion to protect himself against the darkness. 

Gryla was still floating above her own tomb. 

She kept laughing. 

The end was so sudden and gruesome, that Tim's mind refused to understand it. 

The wolf rose out of the darkness soundlessly. Huge jaws clamped shut around the strzyga's body. Black blood splattered everywhere. The wolf shook its massive head and bit down again and again. 

Gryla didn't scream. 

She didn't have the time. Her free arm twitched again and again.

The wolf opened its mouth and the remains of her fell to the ground. 

The shifter regarded her with a strange interest, then he threw his head back and roared. 

The chamber shook around them. 

Gibbs stepped towards him. He still had this supernatural halo around him. His eyes blue, just like the swirling wing-like lines on the wolf's back. 

The two supernatural creatures stared at each other, then touched their foreheads against the other's.

Kate stepped back, kneeled down in front of the tomb. She rested her head on the cold surface with her eyes closed. She entwined her fingers with each other. 

She didn't move for a long time.

ψ

_12/25/2002_

_8:00 AM_

_Colorado_

_White River National Forest_

_Ever Dream Cottage_

Tim stepped out of the cottage and took a deep breath of fresh air. The woods were silent around them and the snow was falling gently again. Miraculously, the evidence of last night had disappeared with the first morning light. 

He was so incredibly thankful for that. 

He slowly lowered himself down onto the steps and just stared ahead. His mind was blank. His humanity refused to deal with the events of last night. His eyes slipped to the spot where he knew Heather's body had been two hours ago. The whiteness looked untouched. 

No blood. 

No Heather. 

"You okay?" 

He jumped a little and looked up at the new arriver. 

Tony was still looking so young. Younger than even Tim. He hadn't changed his clothes. He was bloody, dirty and limping. His eyes were dim. He was the epitome of exhaustion. Tim shared the feeling. The human's whole body hurt, but his soul... his soul was bruised too. Maybe even more.

Tim didn't answer the question.

Tony took this as an invitation. He sat down next to the human and too regarded the woods without real interest. 

"I've warned you that it will be difficult." the shifter said after a while. 

Tim ignored that. 

"You were able to shift," he said instead. "How come?"

Tony hummed. Tim glanced to the side to study the profile of his face. There was a closed off-ness there again. It put a confusing weight on Tim's chest every time he saw it.

"Adrenalin is a very useful thing, you know," Tony said after a beat. "Gibbs being there. Our bond helped too. 

Tim pursed his lips and looked away. He kept his gaze away from the shifter when he asked his next question. 

"What went through your mind when you killed Gryla?" 

Silence. 

"I didn't kill Gryla," Tony said. Tim turned back to him. There was that mature seriousness in Tony's eyes that Tim had seen more and more ever since the Horde. 

"I killed Amelia Kane. I killed a girl who was born with two souls and pushed out of society because of that. She was punished for it and when she died, her body and the remaining soul went through a series of torture called rituals to ensure she stayed dead. One twisted soul remained in the end. I killed that soul because she threatened my pack. I wanted her dead so much because of that."

"Was there any way we could have helped her?" Tim asked. He expected no. He really wanted a no. 

"Probably." was Tony's reply. "I personally don't know of any methods, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one. It's the same out on the field. There could be a guy holding a gun to someone's head. Maybe if you step to the side, you can get him in an angle that allows him and his victim to live too. However, maybe you have no chance. Have to put the bullet between his eyes. Life is cruel that way." 

Tim wrapped his arms around his knees and lowered his head down on them. He watched the shifter from that angle. 

"Like Rage?" he asked. 

"Exactly." Tony nodded. 

"What about the others? I ... don't understand what happened."

Tony ran a hand through his hair and grimaced at the dirt and blood he found there. 

"They were long gone. Again-walkers are like ghosts with bodies. I mean, they died. All the four of them a long time ago. They were stuck because of the brutality of their death. Amelia's magic trapped them. She managed to control their minds. She convinced them that they were these Chrismas Monsters. With that act she had going, using Christmas Eve as the night of the killings, she confused them, made them deny their own death. Kept them somewhat sane until we broke the altars." 

"Except Trevin. Gibbs said that he was aware even after that."

Tony hummed thoughtfully. 

"I think he has been messed up even before he met Amelia. Adam, Heather, and Jace were probably normal teenagers before. Amelia whipped that out of their minds. When we destroyed the altars, that illusion was broken. They had to deal with their death and what they had become after that. But Trevin, I think, the transition wasn't that severe. I think he had done some awful things before he died. Or maybe he was suicidal, self-destructive. But these are just my theories. You'll have to ask Kate. She is the profiler." 

"What about the trace? Why couldn't Gibbs detect them?" 

"Again-walkers used to be humans. They don't have a trace. Strzyga is kind of a witch. They know how to hide trace. When they used what they thought to be their abilities, they used Amelia's magic. This is what Gibbs could detect. But only when they used it."

"This is messed up," Tim sighed. He closed his eyes and turned his face into his folded arms. "You should stop using those suppressors. If detecting trace is this unpredictable, we need your sense of smell." 

Tim didn't see his face, but there was sadness in Tony's voice when he answered. 

"You know that it's not a possibility." 

Oh, he knew. The last month had thought him so much. One of those things was the fact that the word was more black than white. Maybe... very gray. His friends... those horrible things that happened last night. Some of those things were done by his friends. Maybe they didn't have a choice, but they had still done it. It was something he had to think about. 

Later.

Then the shifter rose to his feet and dusted off his jeans. 

"You better reign in that long face. Abby, Ducky and Jimmy will be here soon."

ψ

_12/25/2002_

_8:00 AM_

_Washington, D.C.  
_

_Agent Timothy Farragut McGee's apartment  
_

_He_ was walking around in the dark apartment, curiously examining the objects, books, electronics all around. _He_ touched things with _his_ gloved fingers as _he_ hummed an ancient tune. _He_ stopped in front of a bookshelf. _He_ picked up a figure from where it sat in front of a colorful book. It looked like an elf, frozen in a fighting stance. 

_He_ walked to an armchair and sat down in it. 

_He_ smiled to himself as _he_ brought up the figure to eye level. 

ψ

_Merry Christmas!_


End file.
